Former Knox headmaster Ian Paterson changes story at royal commission

Former Knox Grammar School headmaster Ian Paterson recanted previous testimony given to a royal commission in which he admitted to misleading a police officer and hindering her investigation into child abuse allegations involving six teachers at the school.

In a dramatic about-face, Dr Paterson told the commission he did not mislead an officer from the Child Protection Enforcement Agency who spoke to him about sex abuse claims in 1996.

Under questioning from his own lawyer, Jim Harrowell, the former headmaster agreed that Inspector Beth Cullen was examining general allegations rather than specific claims.

"So you did not deliberately seek to mislead Inspector Cullen?" Mr Harrowell asked.

"Absolutely not," Dr Paterson replied.

He also denied in Friday's evidence that he knew the extent of sexual abuse at the school, which he ran from from 1969 to 1998.

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He agreed he had been made aware of concerns about teachers Barrie Stewart and Damien Vance and addressed them. He also said he acted on his suspicion that teacher Christopher Fotis was the so-called balaclava man who sexually assaulted a year 8 boy in his bed by removing Fotis from the boarding house.

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Dr Paterson agreed his failure to protect students from at least eight paedophile teachers at the school was a result of "lack of knowledge".

In a closing statement to the commission, Dr Paterson blamed the system for failing the students.

"For the other thousands of Knox students, I believe I had in place an outstanding system of pastoral care which catered directly to their satisfactory welfare," he said.

"That this system failed to reveal the victims of abuse is extraordinary, given so many likely outlets for help."

He named the likely outlets as teachers and housemasters although the commission has heard that all five Knox staff members convicted of sex charges performed one or both of those roles.

Dr Paterson asked the commission to consider his advice on child protection.

"On reflection, I could have added to this system in much the same way as we talked about stranger danger, to say to the boys, 'If you are uncomfortable with the way teachers touch you, please speak'," he said.

Outside the commission, a former student who was sexually assaulted at the school said Dr Paterson tried to cover up the abuse.

"The pastoral care failed us as students," Angus Ollerenshaw said.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has the power to recommend criminal charges and Mr Ollerenshaw said he would welcome further investigation into Dr Paterson.

"What he said this week raises a lot of questions," he said.

Outside the commission, current Knox Grammar headmaster John Weeks said the school had undergone a transformation since Dr Paterson's reign.

"We changed Knox Grammar School from . . . the kind of school that sadly Ian Paterson developed," he said. "That school does not exist any more."